Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Zimmerman's mental hurdle

USA Today Sports Images

Ryan Zimmerman throws wide last night for his fourth error of the year.

MIAMI — Ryan Zimmerman has more range than perhaps any third baseman in baseball. He makes off-balance, acrobatic throws across the diamond look simple. He owns one Gold Glove Award (2009) and played well enough to deserve another one the following year.

But there's no hiding the fact the Nationals' veteran infielder is battling a serious mental hurdle right now, one affecting his ability to make routine throws with the kind of frequency required of a big-league third baseman.

Zimmerman's fourth-inning error during last night's 8-2 loss to the Marlins was merely the latest, costly example. He's now been charged with four throwing errors over his last five games. And that doesn't include a number of routine throws that were not on target but were close enough for first baseman Adam LaRoche to snag without taking his foot off the bag.

And for the first time last night, Zimmerman publicly acknowledged the mental challenge he's facing, insisting there's nothing physically preventing him from making those throws, most notably his surgically repaired shoulder.

"Nope, shoulder feels great," he said. "That's why it's so frustrating. I was just going into the dugout and talking to some of the guys. Nobody's more frustrated than me. I'm the guy out there that doesn't want to do it more than anyone."

Things reached a point last night where Zimmerman felt the need to approach LaRoche and shortstop Ian Desmond in the Nationals dugout and ask for their advice.

"Rochie obviously has played with me for a while," he said. "He's got the best seat in the house. Just little things. But nobody really sees too much. Desi's played next to me for a long time as well."

Desmond, who made more than his share of errors in the minors and as a rookie in 2010, was taken aback by Zimmerman feeling the need to seek help. And after the game, the young shortstop offered a lengthy, passionate display of support and confidence in his teammate, recognizing the attention this issue is beginning to draw.

"People blowing it up more than it is, that doesn't help anything," Desmond said. "I think if this is going to be the fall of a superstar, you've got it completely wrong. You don't get to the level he's at without overcoming some things along the way. You can talk to him about growing up. He was always a little guy, never hit homers in high school or college, and all of a sudden he figured it out. And now he's a 30-homer, 100-RBI-a-year guy. It's just when you run into those trials, how do you deal with it?

"He's obviously talking to you guys. And I think him coming to us, he knows something's going on. But it's not going to derail his stardom. He's an unbelievable talent, and he's got to remember that. He's got a Gold Glove in his house. He knows how to do it. He needs to get out of his own head, just like we all do. I made 40 errors a year. It's part of the game. You have to go through that stuff. And there's nobody I think would be able to bounce back from it more than he would.

"In a sense, it's a confidence thing. He's never come to me before about how to hit a homer, or how to drive in a runner from second, or how to make a diving play. So I would imagine his confidence is a little down if he's coming to me. I have some things that I see, but I think he's to the point now where it's right there. He's gotten 100 times better. Everything is already moving in the right direction. He makes one and then he makes five good throws. He's moving in the right direction. And obviously having surgery doesn't help anything, having to take time off and rehab and try to find that slot again. But he's on the right track. It's going to take one clean game to get right back to where he was, and he'll be fine. Like I said, this isn't going to be the downfall of a superhero."

Desmond makes a reasonable point, and one that needs to be underscored to those who equate what Zimmerman is going through to some of baseball's most notorious cases of players who lost the ability to make accurate throws: Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch, Mackey Sasser. In those cases, the player often couldn't even get the ball out of his hand. And when he did, it came nowhere close to its intended target.

That's not the case for Zimmerman. His throwing motion may not be a thing of beauty, but most of his errors are only slightly off-target, not spiked into the ground or launched into the stands. He makes more good throws than bad ones, and he continues to make some spectacular throws while off-balance.

"That's the frustrating part, too," he said. "I'll have a couple games in a row where I do fine and it feels great, then all of a sudden I just kind of let one go."

Zimmerman also is plagued by his track record as a defensive whiz, a reputation he carried from the day he was drafted and was compared by former general manager Jim Bowden to Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt.

"For so long, I think everyone in D.C. put him on this pedestal and thought he was superhuman. And he is," Desmond said. "But at the same time, everybody has to deal with a little bit of adversity. He's going to bounce back from it. It's early. I guarantee you, by the time the end of the season rolls around, he'll be making all the great plays and everything he's been doing his whole career."

Manager Davey Johnson will continue to give Zimmerman every opportunity to get himself back on track. The rest of the Nationals clubhouse continues to offer him complete support.

The onus now is on Zimmerman to get over this mental hurdle, recognizing there is an issue but not allowing himself to become so consumed with it that it only makes things worse.

"I'm working on it," he said. "I'm doing everything I can to make those plays and help this team. Unfortunately right now, I've made a few errors, but I'll go back out there tomorrow and hope every ball's hit my way and I'll go right back at it."

Glad to see it out in the open...kudos to Zim, for not hiding from this, and Desi, though I keeping he couldn't possibly rise any higher in my estimation, takes it up another notch... The very definition of "Class Act".

i have tried to pull up video from Zims first few years in the league about how he threw. i don't recall anything abnormal from those days. Then about a year and a half ago there was all the talk about the Nats trying to straighten out his mechanics and he started throwing like a girl.

I think that it is mostly mental too. But having experienced the Steve Sax syndrome (frequently described by announcers as having the yips) playing 2nd base briefly in university, I don't think that it's the same thing that Zim in going through.

He's coming back from arm surgery, and rehab. The arm is not quite back to its' former physical status. He missed playing the field for a good part of ST, and ST is not that far in the past.

Study the tapes and look at arm slot and do some short drills--all of which Zim is probably doing. He is working on it, and doesn't appear to be in denial.

Also, the other good news is that Ryan has teammates like Desi and ALR to talk to.

Didn't mean to offend anyone with my "girl" statement. You know what I mean though. Throwing awkwardly would be better to say. Or unnaturally. Anyone that has been around baseball sees Zim throw and wonders what happened about a year and a half to two years ago. I wonder if that was originally when he hurt his arm

We mules are not so much phlegmatic as stoic. Having acquired this trait from my first owner, Zeno (of Citium), I advise other Nats-types to adopt a similar approach. We must accept the things which are beyond our control to influence or change. Our 25 men are our 25 men; they are the best we have, the best we are likely to have for quite some time. They are striving, and will continue as best they can to succeed for us and for themselves. All must persevere.

I've written 1,000 times here about Yogi Berra's famous quote "Baseball is 90% percent mental and the other 1/2 is physical" and I theorized a couple years ago that Zim's throws seem more mental. His coming forward is a big step and I wish him luck.

This also holds true for pitchers. Yesterday's quote about Haren and the other pitcher's rhythm being thrown off is spot on as it affects their "mental" side of the game.

Haren was cruising until that error and then a couple of seeing eye hits plus the first run falls in leftfield in front of TyMo that I'm fairly sure Bryce gets to.

Just another SNAFU game. You can almost start to make patterns of games with Unearned runs is leading to losses.

Didn't mean to offend anyone with my "girl" statement. You know what I mean though. Throwing awkwardly would be better to say. Or unnaturally. Anyone that has been around baseball sees Zim throw and wonders what happened about a year and a half to two years ago. I wonder if that was originally when he hurt his arm

Might be time to load up on the cortisone again April 17, 2013 9:50 AM

I feel for Zim here. Like Doc I went through a Sax-like period in college when I could not throw the ball back to the pitcher from behind the plate. Not fun. I don't think we are there yet with Zim. However, his throwing mechanics are absolutely horrible and until he straightens that out, he will make throwing errors. I don't understand how he and the ball club have let it deteriorate like this. Like pitching and hitting mechanics they must have video they can look at from 2007 or so when he could plant and throw overhand with authority. Right now, he has a serious hitch with his wrist during his arm circle. That causes a motion that is hard to repeat, hence the errors.

The Royals got Gattis on an 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. There were a couple of you that questioned Advanced Scouting and pitchers executing a game plan.

Jeremy Guthrie pitched Gattis brilliantly and unfortunately was probably concentrating too much on Upton, Gattis, Uggla and Heyward that he served up 2 HRs to Juan Francisco but he pitched Gattis exactly what I said the Advanced Scouting probably showed: Low and away and on the black on the outside and purpose pitch him real inside and if you throw a slider he hasn't shown he can hit it. Guthrie pitched him 6 all low away using his fastball, curve and slider. On a 3-2 pitch he struck him out looking at the slider. Gattis didn't swing at one pitch his entire 1st AB.

On Chris Johnson, I think the Braves stole him when they included him in the trade with Arizona. I think he will be a solid starter for them. Not everyone has to be a superstar and his hot start has helped them to where they are.

It takes a full team determined to win and when some are slumping they better be contributing in other ways and all those slumping players that BigCat mentioned are contributing in other ways. For those who point out that Heyward is hitting (near .100) he still hustles on the basepaths and turning some excellent plays in the field.

Zim's throwing is not mental, it is physical! He is throwing the same way over handed as he does under handed (palm and fingers under the ball). When you throw over handed and the ball is in the cock position the palm and fingers need to be on top and ball facing back. Also, you don't rotate your hand, you keep it still and when the chest opens your hand rotates. (Tip from a pitching coach of 40 years). Simple and why can't the experts (Coaches) see this problem?

#4, if they can convince Zim that his issues are mechanical and he can get beyond the yips, then the situation may improve but right now he's a mess. His comfort zone is charging balls and throwing that sidearm/submariner throw.

When he gets a routine play, he's crow hopping 2 to 3 times before he releases and I know I'm holding my breath.

It's painful to watch and it's painful because I feel for Ryan as a person. With each injury it has played into his head. I've also felt he hasn't been totally forthcoming since 2007 with his myriad of injuries.

Now the Nats are attached to him long-term. I think the better solution is hypnotism and sports psychiatrist. I'd be surprised if they hadn't done this in the past. Again, this problem has been brewing for years.

Add me to the list that feels Harp gets to that ball that Tyler let drop. And no knock on Tyler but that's the trade off with him. Hope for more offense than the defensive shortcomings.

I've been a proponent of Zim's problems being mental initially, and then compounded by injury. This goes nack to 2007 when it started cropping up in Spring Training and carried over to the regular season.

He has already cost the Nats 3 games this year. I feel like I am watching Shaq shoot free throws. They can't afford to give games away. This problem has existed for far too long now, and something needs to be done. Not sure what, but something. This mental block is not going away. It took 93 wins to make the playoffs in the AL last year, and that could easily be the case this year in the NL.

On another note, Rizzo has really made a mess of last year's team. $13 million for Dan Haren, but couldn't keep any of the 3 lefties in the bullpen. He has now paid Yunesky Maya, Chien Ming Wang, Edwin Jackson and now Haren some $35-40 million to replace John Lannan (who is better than all of them combined). Also, trading Morse will go down as one of the worst trades in baseball over the last few years. Having some idealistic version of a baseball team, and stubbornly sticking to that, doesn't make him a great GM. Sorry, it doesn't.

Alphabet Soup Erik said... On another note, Rizzo has really made a mess of last year's team. $13 million for Dan Haren, but couldn't keep any of the 3 lefties in the bullpen. He has now paid Yunesky Maya, Chien Ming Wang, Edwin Jackson and now Haren some $35-40 million to replace John Lannan (who is better than all of them combined).

I've spoken my mind on this for 3 seasons now on what John Lannan really is and that's a serviceable back of the rotation pitcher.

Peric will disagree with you and I and use his SABR hand-picked stats and WHIP while ignoring his median ERA. Lannan if you look at what he has done is that he puts his team almost every start in a position to win. Its not pretty, its not sexy, it doesn't sell extra tix to watch him pitch, but he is a very able #5 that will pitch like a #4 most of the season.

I'm so tired of hearing about Velo. The Nats got schooled by 2 pitchers over the weekend (Hudson & Maholm) that pitch slower than Lannan.

Zim has been painful to watch but to say that he has caused the team 3 games is pure BS. There is no rule that says a pitcher has to implode after an error which after all only put one man on base.

The ball that fell in front of TyMo is in Harper's back pocket; no question. Having said that a veteran like Haren can't hang a splitter to a mediocre hitter like Hetcheveria.

Carpenter said last night that Stammen at least stopped the bleeding and I think someone here also noted that he and Matheus did all right. Stammen came in with the bases loaded and gave up a double to the 1st hitter; that's not stopping the bleeding that's pouring gasoline on the fire.

Not a single one of our relievers has pitched above a failing grade; we like to pick on Henry but he has not been the worst of the bunch this year.

This is simple science. He got married in the offseason. He’s in a honeymoon slump. Look at Ovechkin. Got married in the offseason. Went through his honeymoon slump. New wife finally kicked him in the butt, and he’s now leading his team and the league in goals. And the list of past stars goes on ... Carmelo, Tony Romo, Agassi. Give RZ time ... he’ll shake off the honeymoon slump and be better than ever

A few days ago I said that the first step in solving the problem was admitting there is a problem. Zim he has now done that. Hopefully he can now solve it.

It seems like the Nats announcers and writers have come around as well. Maybe they'll stop with the head in the sand happy talk like Johnny Holiday saying the other night that criticism of Zim was misplaced because "he's a gold glove third baseman for crying out loud."

I think you can fairly say that his errors cost us two games -- Friday's (when the tying and go ahead runs scored on his error) and Saturday's (when he failed to get an easy third out in the inning and the very next batter hit the game winning homerun), but it's a bit of a stretch to say he cost us last night's game.

It may be time for Zim to get to Syracuse to practice different throwing motions, let 'er rip, build confidence, and get back up here. That would be a tough pill to swallow but it would be best for the team. What do you think, Zim??

It's nice to have velo going for you, but that doesn't always happen--just ask Greg, Warren (that'll be have to be done in seance format with Warren, since Spahnie is no longer with us), and a few other guys who won over 300 games.

My guy Gio gave up 7 big ones recently, because of Location, not velo.

Hi #4, good to see again this season. I understand Coach Buddy is hanging in OK.

I fail to see what Zim has to do with Haren gang? I really do not have an issue with Ryan. He will come around by himself or with cortisone. If its with cortisone then clearly the medical staff better examine and treat Ryan in future seasons

LOL Kiterp, but I believe Ovechkin is engaged, not married. I really feel for Zim and think Ian is a terrific teammate--I agree, thank you Mark for quoting him at length. Whatever is standing in Zim's way--mental problem or physical--I hope it's the easier one to fix. DC Wonk @ 10:13, thanks very much for your perspective. I will add that the Rays, who got so much praise in SI's baseball issue, stand now at 4-9. It's just April 17.

Davey was on 106.7 this morning and discussed Zims throwing issues. He said it all comes down to getting used to throwing in his normal arm slot again. He has been injured for a while and has had to compensate and he still is not 100%.

Zim has been working on infield throwing drills and has been working with the Nats trainer on throwing techniques. Davey expects him to be back to the good old Zim around June.

I think that we need to be more honest here. Zim is broken. He cannot throw. Zim is not making great throws on hard plays and having problems with easy ones. He's not doing fine one night and then having probems the next. He's not throwing the ball well at all from any angle. He does better underhand or sidearm on the run, but he simply cannot/will not throw the ball overhand. Not between innings getting warmed up, not during games, not ever. And he has yet to plant and fire a really hard throw from any angle this season. He had throwing problems well before the shoulder injury and things have gotten steadily worse over a period of a couple of years now. The Nats need to address this situation in a very serious way -- not just a "we'll keep trotting him out there until he figures it out, he's too talented not to get right" approach. Knoblaugh was "the Fundamentally Sound" Chuck until he just wasn't.

This is an interesting discussion. Many of us have seen just about every game and and like 95% of Zimm innings since 2006. I completely agree with Njack....it is not a new problem....not even close to new. It has just gotten more and more into his head that I am worried he is done as a reliable 3B let alone gold glover.

The more time he has the worse the throw. This is not an injury issue and never was...it is going towards Steve Sax or Check Knobloch issue.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.